March 28th 2006: French workers and youth mobilise on a scale never seen since 1968

Today’s
strikes and demonstrations brought over three million workers onto
the streets of France, with 700,000 marchers in Paris and 250,000 in
Marseille. In the last 60 years, this movement has only been equalled
by those of the revolutionary events of May and June 1968. It is
provoking serious divisions right at the top of the ruling class, a
clear symptom of revolutionary developments.

The
strikes and demonstrations which took place on March 28th
represent one of the most powerful expressions of mass action in the
entire history of the French working class. Over three million
workers took to the streets all over France, with 700,000 marchers in
Paris and 250,000 in Marseille. Neither the demonstration of May 13th
2003 against the attacks on pensions by the Raffarin government, nor
even that against the “Juppé plan” on December 12th
1995, were anything like as impressive as this. Throughout the last
60 years, this movement has only been equalled by those of the
revolutionary events of May and June 1968.

This
was the fourth and by far the most successful day of action in
protest against the Contrat première embauche (CPE),
which is an attempt, on the part of the De Villepin government, to
reduce young workers to little more than slaves, to be hired and
fired according to the whims of employers. Under the terms of this
new type of labour contract, employers no longer need to give any
reason or explanation for sacking employees under 26 years old.
Joining a union, falling sick, or the slightest complaint will mean
immediate dismissal.

This outrageous provocation has unleashed a storm of
popular protest, strike action, university occupations, school
students demonstrations, and also — on the part of the enraged and
desperate youth of the poorest districts in and around the largest
towns and cities — to a new wave of rioting. Attacks against the
police, and in particular against the hated brigades of the CRS, have
taken place throughout the country. Clearly, the ruling class is
losing its hold upon society. It is difficult to say whether this
movement will reach the scale of that of 1968. For the moment,
however, events are definitely moving in that direction. The eyes of
the workers of the entire world should now be fixed on the events in
France. We are standing before the prospect of a pre-revolutionary
situation as an immediate possibility. If the government backs down
and abandons the CPE, it may still be able to avoid the approaching
cataclysm. If it tries to resist — as the initial reaction of De
Villepin to the events of the day would seem to indicate — it may
well find that events will take such a turn that even the withdrawal
of the CPE will not suffice.

Perhaps the clearest sign of the splits opening up in
the ruling class is the behaviour of Nicolas Sarkozy, the present
Interior Minister. This rabid reactionary upstart has spent years
forging his reputation as protagonist of implacable, uncompromising
action in the interests of the rich and powerful. The more hesitant
representatives of the ruling class who — through fear of provoking
a social explosion — have tended to postpone or soften the blows
directed against the workers have been subjected to the most scathing
criticism from the “strong man” Sarkozy. And yet this same man
has publicly turned against De Villepin, who now stands accused of
having been too dogmatic and too uncompromising. There is more to
this division than the personal rivalry between Sarkozy and De
Villepin. Sarkozy is giving voice to the very real fears of the
capitalists, who can see that the situation is spiralling out of
control. History has given them good reason to fear the militant and
revolutionary traditions of the French workers.

The leadership of the Socialist Party, under intense
pressure from below, has repeatedly asserted that it will immediately
scrap the CPE if the left wins the next elections, to be held in
March 2007, if events do not bring them on sooner. From the point of
view of the capitalists, therefore, by its stubborn insistence on the
CPE, the government — their government! — is taking the risk of a
repetition of 1968 for the sake of a measure which will be abolished
in any case in less than a year from now. The MEDEF, which represents
the interests of big business in France, has also tried to distance
itself from the government. Such divisions are in themselves a
classical symptom of a developing pre-revolutionary crisis. Should
the schism at the top of society widen any further, and break out
into an open conflict, this will be taken as a sign that the existing
order has lost its balance, and will open the floodgates for a
movement from below.

The
“moderate” Socialist leaders have no alternative but to take a
clear stand against the CPE. Even the treacherous leader of the CFDT,
François Chérèque, who in 2003 cynically
betrayed the struggle against the pensions reform by signing an
agreement with the government within hours of the May 13th
demonstration of that year, has been obliged to adopt an
uncharacteristically militant posture. The CGT, the CFDT, FO, and all
the political and trade union organisations of the workers are being
pushed sharply to the left.

Over
the next few days, the ruling class on the one side, and the workers
and youth on the other, will be drawing a balance sheet of the events
of the last month, and in particular of the strikes and
demonstrations of March 28th. President Chirac has been
keeping a fairly low profile until now. He may intervene and order
the government to retreat. That would be a devastating blow to the
latter, which was only installed nine months ago, after the dismissal
of the discredited Raffarin government. However, if the need to
conserve governmental prestige should lead Chirac into maintaining
the CPE, the intensity of the struggle between the classes is likely
to be raised to an even higher level.

March
28th will have served to strengthen the morale and the
fighting spirit of the workers and youth. They can see that their
enemies are in difficulty, and are beginning to fight among
themselves. That is a highly dangerous state of affairs from the
point of view of the ruling class. In any case, whatever the
immediate outcome of the present struggle, France is clearly heading
towards a new and gigantic revolutionary upheaval, which will shake
the whole of Europe, and indeed the entire world.